what do you guys do about capes that are brought to you that are skinned improperly.
just this year 1 guy brought 4 deer heads that have all the cape i need but was skinned wrong. instead of just tubing the front legs he went from the top of the cut(when he gutted it)staight over the front legs. what this has done is, it put that short curled brisket hair thats off to both side of the brisket, over onto what i call the flanks, the side of the deer. now sewing this back together is a possibility but with the thin short hair thats in the armpits i find it difficult to hide. now the fellow brought my the whole hide so i never really looked that closely at it until i prepped it. i know if i call the guy up he just may say, anyone of a thousand excuses that you can imagine.
so what is my best option at this point.
also this is certainly not the first time this happened. i went to local butchers and showed them the proper way to cape deer. not all of them knew but most did
but what about the guy who butchers his own. i cant train every tom dick and harry. but i cant go on dealing with this problem. it seems i get more deer like this than i do get properly handeled.
im at my wits end
please send some suggestions if you ever had to deal with this.
thanks johnnyz
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I charge folks for anything that they caused that i will have to repair. I love the folks who like to drag their trophy out of the hills with an ATV and then want me to fix that 6 inch hairless drag mark. Charge them or offer to sell the a replacement cape, but don't do it for free.
DaveT
how much do you charge?
arent you affraid of driving bussiness away?
plus i dont know if i can go back and say i need more money.
i'm just frusterated, i would like to have some go off without a hitch now and again
and explain how they improperly caped the deer. You have no control over the field care that was given to the specimen prior to it coming into your shop. One thing I did to combat this was to build a page for my website that gives specific instructions on how to properly cape an animal to be mounted, as well as field care for other specimens. This has helped alot. Feel free to visit my site and use anything you need. www.claretaxidermy.com . Good luck.
HH
I saw a lot of whitetail capes on ebay a few minutes ago, there is several nice sized ones, but the have been cut across the brisket, There is not enough for a shoulder mount.
Somewhere somehow as a taxidermist its your job to educate the customer.
Why would the customer be mad at you bscause he caped the deer wrong? Show him how.
Get a list of the Hunter education instructors and ask them to let you do a slide show, video on how to cape and prep animals.
One note, I was a senior H.E.I. I never mentioned my business I did demonstrate through video the proper way. The state told me I was wrong for showing the students and had the certificate revoked. All this happend somewhere in the year of my 60th class. I never promoted my taxidermy either.
I also feel out state regulation books should show how to do this. Even the bears hunters cut the chest off most times.
I have educated all the guys that bring the capes in cut wrong. I also let them know about the additional charges for sewing. Most of the time I have found the problem after thye have left so I call them right up and let them know. Some guys do not belive They did it wrong, But I tell them to come back and look if thye do not. I will put the skin up to a form and take a picture with the digital and send it to them if they are from a long way off.
I also take pictures of the sewing from the inside and out side before I mount. When it is done and they come ot pick up, I show them the repairs and how well it looks on the mount, but you can ususally find some stitches in the armpit area if you look hard. Keep the stitches short and fine and do not over tighten them as it will cause puckers and wrinkles.
Almost every cape I got in this year was cut wrong or the hunters thought they needed to leave it in the truck for two to three days to show it off before they brought it in. They kick there ouw buts when they find out the cape is ruined and the cost of a replacment cape is so high now for mule deer now days.
I like the idea of teaching the new hunters the caping and preperation, but they will not remember the proper way when it comes to taking care of them in the field, and everyones preception of the proper way will change as well. I like the thought of giving a copy of a cutting and preperation list with the license. A detailed little card with the proper cutting marks on it with brief discription of what not to do. This would be better in the long run. I am having business cards with that very thing on the back.
Anyway, I have also just started to tell guys to bring them whole deer in to me and I will skin it. This has helped alot. But I charge to do this as well. I will not do it for free.
Make yourself up a contract that the customer signs at the time he/she drops off the speciman to be mounted.Many times we taxidermists are too busy to tear right into the carcass and look for damage etc.We usually don't find it until the customer is long gone.Make sure that it states that any damage to the speciman that causes extra work on your part,will cost them above the price quoted for the mount.There are some honest people out there that will admit that there is damage to the speciman, but alot of them either don't say anything about it, or figure that all repairs are included in the price quoted.Time is money. No one is willing to work for free, including your customers! Good Luck and Happy Holidays
Rob
Something I did was order Mcenzies "Trophy Field Care Guides" Then put my buisness stickers on the back And displayed them around . These seem to educate people on the do's and dont's.